This has been a really tough month for us. My husband and I were so sad to learn that our neighbor died Jan. 18th. We did get to visit with her in the hospital just a couple of days earlier. She is the lady that gave us a huge concrete birdbath this past fall. She would have been 100 years old on April 30th. We used to go down and visit with her in the summers and sit on the back porch. She used to feed the squirrels with vanilla creme filled cookies. It was such a hoot to see her call the squirrels down out of the trees and watch then take the cookes out of her hand! I had never seen that before. She was always fun to talk to, too. She remembers life here before electricity! Can you imagine living without electric? I can't. We will miss her alot. She was a wonderful God loving person.

My other news this month so far, is my boss quit and they have already hired a replacement. I really miss my old boss. The "newbie" came for a short tour on my day off so I have no idea who or how he will be. He supposedly starts the 1st.

It's the end of the year and it always means a lot more work to close out the previous year and keep up with the current years stuff. I've done 2 payrolls so far. The first one had one minor problem and don't think we had any problems with the 2nd one. It is too soon to tell yet. This will be a really busy week for me.  I have statment letters to type for about 100 people and each one is different.  Since I am not a typist that will probably take some time for me to do.

My mom is finally starting to do better. She is starting water therapy this week and she is really excited about it. She is finally over the infections she picked up and sounds better each day that I talk to her. This is such a big relief!!!!!

Well gotta go and get dinner going. Hope everyone has a great week!

Well the holidays are over and it's time to get life back to normal day to day routines. The tree is down and the ornaments are put away. All the cookies and treats are gone and the scale shows we ate too much!

Sorry I haven't been on too much. Life has been a bit complicated. My mom had her surgery and she is now home and getting well. Seems she "picked up" some kind of an infection in the rehab facility and is still taking meds for it. So, she has been pretty sick since before Christmas.

Our Christmas was not how we had planned nor hoped it would be. Due the severe weather Iowa had, my son and his wife did not come for the holidays. I know he will be here before the middle of March but it would have been nice to spend Christmas with them, especially since they are leaving for Italy in April for 3 years.

The first week of work was a nightmare too! Not only was it month-end but also year end, in addition, to processing my first in-house payroll for the year. Needless to say I was more than a little stressed over everything! My boss told me she has given notice and this will be her last week. I am really sorry to see her go. She is very nice and always upbeat and helpful. Don't know who the replacement will be but hope it is someone I can get along with. I work 3 days a week, about 15-20 hours and my days are flexible which I really like. We'll see how things go.

Yesterday I went to the post office and the store. Later in the day, my hubby backed the car out of the garage and the engine light stayed on. Today, it went out the way it should. Thank goodness!  However, today the washer quit working in the middle the wash cycle. Managed to get the water drained out of the machine but had to hand wring the clothes and lay them all over the house to dry. Tomorrow I'll call a repair man and see when I can get it fixed. I hope it is soon and not expensive!

Last item for tonight and then it is time to get supper going. I have alot of paperback books that I would like to get rid of. I used to have a book store and it has been closed for a while and I still have the books. All I would like is reimbursement for the shipping charges which could be about $15.00 for roughly 30 books. Does anyone have any ideas how to get rid of them? There are romance, historical romance, fiction, sci-fi, and a lot of out-of print books. Also, some old school books from the early 1900's. They are great to look at but several 1,000 books in storage is just too much. Time to clean house!

That's it from my corner of the world! Hope everyone has a great week!

I just want to let anyone who is trying to lose weight know about a great site that I found and it is free to use! They will help you create a personalized diet and fitness plan for you. You can get lots of motivational tip from nutritionists, personal trainers and people just like you. The tools are awesome too! Keep track of your food intake, nutrition, weight loss and oh so much more. Check it out and see what you think. It's a new year and is it time for a new you too!

www.sparkpeople.com

Just wanted to wish everyone a very Happy New Year!

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My wish is for everyone to have a safe, happy and blessed Christmas!

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